Not the quality I’ve become used to, but I wanted to share how Cave Frog got his name. I had two chances before he went in too deep to see, and this was the better of the two. Because it’s not what I really hoped for, I’m including a bonus frog (a repeat for my twitter followers) – a shot of Eyeballs in the lilypads that I just LOVE.
Eyeballs is hanging out in the lilypads.
so I ordered tadpoles. The following conversation ensued:
Me: I ordered tadpoles for our pond.
Ken: Oh?
Me: I got 5 because they may not all survive.
Ken: I would’ve thought you’d order like a hundred if you were worried about them surviving.
Me: They were $2.70 each.
Ken: Five is good.
Of course, he was thinking about the teeny tiny tadpoles we saw as kids when kids were still allowed to wander around and play on their own. These were BIG tadpoles that will turn into leopard frogs or bullfrogs (didn’t know which at the time):
three tadpoles on day one. Look – LEGS!
tadpole rescue operations
They actually sent 6, but one was clearly wounded and died soon after they got put into the pond. Another died later and I don’t know why. I had to regularly rescue them from the skimmer – or I was ruining their day just when they’d found a nice place to hang out. It took MONTHS but eventually we spotted an actual FROG!
FROG! (taken with phone, so excuse the poor quality. but FROG!)
So I started taking pictures through the binoculars again, which I will spare you because they mostly suck. THEN we realized we had TWO frogs – and later THREE! Technically there is a possibility of a fourth but we’re assuming that tadpole did not survive. It looks like we have one leopard frog (Brave Frog, who apparently likes to pose for photos) and two bullfrogs (Cave Frog and Eyeballs).
My mom, who takes awesome photographs, got frustrated with my crappy pictures-through-binoculars and brought over her big Canon EOS Rebel and Giant Honkin’ Lens and Tripod and such. Which she left with me, and I started taking photos. I got some nice ones, so I kept going. It became a thing.
So that’s what’s with all the frogs.
Brave Frog posing on a sunny morning.
Obviously I post a lot of pictures of frogs. I know I won’t be able to keep up posting a daily photo forever (though if I stockpile enough I suppose I could make it through winter…) – but they are so darn cute and the whole #dailyfrog thing took root on my twitter account and before you know it I created a blog and started writing run-on sentences for all to see.
But WHY do I do it? Hm.
It started with finally getting our back yard, which had been a dirt and weed pit, landscaped. In the summer of 2010 we had a patio, waterfall, stream, and pond installed. It was ridiculously exciting and I worked from home just to be able to watch the progress:
future waterfall and stream
rear view of waterfall
It wasn’t until much later we built the deck (trex!) with the help of friends and family:
Ken finishing the bridge over the stream
our little pier around a boulder
we still have to do the fascia, though
Summer 2011 we got a 2nd flagstone patio installed and some fake grass (which is all kinds of awesome), and a FENCE!
2nd flagstone (Belgard, actually) patio
our fake grass patch, and FENCE being installed (yay, privacy!)
fence posts are trimmed with solar lights.
Sometime during all this, a frog moved into our pond, where we had some fish and plants:
This guy moved in and I managed to get one photo through binoculars using my phone.
Sadly, he also moved out. So this spring I ordered tadpoles…. (continued in next post)
Yes, if you read the copyright and thought “what???” you read it right. While I was away my husband decided to use the camera and get a picture of Cave Frog in the lily pads. I think he did a pretty good job!
I was lucky enough to spot Eyeballs in the middle of the lily pads. He’s quite skittish though – as soon as I tried to move to a new angle to get his face he dove underwater. Ah well – it was fun to see my frog in the lily pads!
Fairly certain this is Cave Frog, since he sat still for a few pictures before squeaking and diving into the water (Eyeballs rarely gives me more than one chance). Yes, it was a bit dark when I took this so I used a flash. His green is stunning!
Brave Frog was patient as I got the camera closer and closer so I could get a front-on portrait. Then he dove underwater.
And there you have it – Brave Frog. Probably a lot of these will be of this one because. You know. Brave.
eyeballs is aptly named.
We have three confirmed frogs in our pond. One is “brave frog” because he doesn’t mind me getting pretty darn close to take pictures. Another (featured in yesterday’s post) is “cave frog” because he likes to hang out in a little area of the rocks that makes a small cave (if you’re a small frog). Last is “eyeballs” – who is skittish and rarely will stay above water when we are around. Today when I got home eyeballs was out – for ONE picture so this is what I got:
“cave frog” who usually hangs out under water or in the shade of a rock chose to come out for some sun this morning. I love the reflection in the water. He is about 2 inches long, if that, and is a juvenile bullfrog.
@KellyOSullivan 